Tokyo Electric President, Shimizu Masataka, is in the hospital. Hypertension and dizziness are the reasons given. He has not appeared in public since attending a press conference on 13 March.
TEPCo runs the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.
All posts by Hutchins AAron
Idaho National Laboratory sending Radiation Robots to Japan
The Idaho National Laboratory is sending robots hardened against radiation, along with hardened cameras to Japan.
That’s according to officials with the U.S. Department of Energy. The robots will be used where radiation levels are too high for people, at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. The statements by Energy Department officials, about the INL robots, were made to a U.S. Senate panel on 29 March.
The U.S. department of Energy has sent, or is sending, 70 employees, along with tons of equipment, to help fight the nuclear disaster.
Just remember, this nuclear disaster is due to the lax disaster preparations of a Japanese capitalist corporation, and yet, the taxpayers of Japan are paying for it, and we taxpayers in the U.S. are paying for it. Corporations suck!
Japan now on “Maximum Alert”!
The situation at Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant now has Japan officially on maximum alert.
To give an idea of just how much highly contaminated water they must try to remove before any more work can continue on the damage plant: Just one of the tunnel/trenches under the reactors holds 6,000 cubic meters of contaminated water, more than two Olympic swimming pools.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Edano Yukio says they have no choice but to keep pumping water in, to keep the reactors from melting down.
American Red Cross announces big money for Japan
The American Red Cross announced that, so far, $120 million has been raised to help the people of Japan.
$10 million has already been sent to Japan, and another $50 million will be sent in a few days. The rest will be sent as it becomes available.
Set back for Toyota, telling dealers to make in house repairs
Due to continued parts supply shortages caused by the 11 March disasters, Toyota is now telling dealers NOT to replace damaged parts.
Toyota wants dealer auto shops to make in-house repairs of damaged parts, when possible. Toyota says there could be at least 233 parts that are not available. They did not specify which parts, but could involve parts for suspensions and air bags.
Honda steps up production cut backs, parts shortage will now affect Auto Mechanics
Starting March 30, Honda will cut back on production within Canada and the United States.
Honda officials say the cut backs are due to prolonged shut down of parts suppliers in Japan. They do not know how long their production cut backs will last.
Honda has also warned car dealers that parts for their auto repair shops are dwindling. They told the dealers to expect shortages.
Honda did not give specifics regarding their production cut backs, but they hoped it would be enough to avoid total factory shut downs.
In one Japanese town evidence that Tsunami was 30 meters high (almost 100 feet)
A joint research team from Yokohama National University, and University of Tokyo, surveyed the city of Ofunato, in Iwate Prefecture.
Things like fishing gear and remains of boats were found on a cliff. The only way the stuff could have gotten to the top of the cliff was if the Tsunami was at least 29.6 meters high (97 feet).
The height of the March 11 tsunami varies along the Japanese coast line, because of the shape of the land. The bay at Ofunato is very narrow and would force the wave higher.
Gaddafi was right, U.S. Admiral says al Qeada involved with “peaceful” Libyan Rebels
Remember when Gaddafi told international media that al Qaeda was behind some of the “peaceful” militant protesters? Even if you don’t, the U.S. media, and our government, laughed his claims off, saying it was proof he was crazy.
Guess what the U.S. commander of NATO said? Admiral James Stavridis said there were “flickers” of al Qaeda within the rebels. The admiral’s statement was backed up by a senior counter terrorism official, unnamed because he is not authorized to speak to the media. He said there is “…a sprinkling of extremists to perhaps include al Qaeda,” adding that “It’s hard to tell who all the leaders are in the opposition.” So our government doesn’t know who we are supporting? We could be supporting al Qaeda? Who’s crazy now?
Obama says U.S. will no longer be in charge of Odyssey Dawn, Yet who runs NATO? More Lies
Operation Odyssey Dawn is, according to President Barack Obama, going to be handed over to NATO on Thursday, April 1 (don’t be surprised if it’s an April Fools prank [heh, April Fools, Thursday is actually March 31]), so that the United States will no longer be in charge of attacking Libya. But who is in charge of NATO? The United States!
Already Obama has lied about U.S. involvement in Operation Odyssey Dawn, being just days, not weeks. When the official hand over to NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) takes place on Thursday, it will be a week and a half since the coalition military action began. Remember, Obama swore to Congress it was only going to be “…days, not weeks.”
What about NATO? First of all, the United States created NATO in 1949. The United States has been behind the push to expand NATO since the demise of the Soviet Union in 1991. By the way the Soviet Union was why NATO was created, so why is NATO still around 20 years after the Soviet Union ceased to exist? Because the United States wanted to keep it around.
Who runs NATO, literally? The United States. United States Navy Admiral James Stavridis is the current military commander of NATO. In other words; Obama is NOT handing off control of Odyssey Dawn, it is still under the control of the U.S.
By the way, this is why French President Sarkozy did not want NATO to take over. So far each “coalition” member has been doing their own thing. No real coordination. Sarkozy did not want France to lose direct control of their military action against Libya. By Sarkozy is the one who pushed everyone to pass the UNSCR 1973.
A Pentagon spokesperson explained that the real reason to turn things over to NATO, was money. The U.S. doesn’t have the money to continue most of the actual military action. By shifting to NATO, most of the military action will carried out, AND PAID FOR, by other members of NATO. NATO will still be run by the United States.
Now what about the name of this military action against the Libyan government? “Operation Odyssey Dawn”: Odyssey means a very long trip. Dawn usually refers to the start, or beginning, of something. Mmmm, beginning of a very long trip? Can you say Freudian slip?
Lies, lies and more lies!
Idaho not reporting any Radiation from Japan
As of 28 March 2011, the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality is not reporting any increase in radiation levels in Idaho, on their RadNet site.
Also, the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare believes that currently the risk of high radiation levels, from Japan, is still low.
The IDHW has a Japan situation page that lets Idahoans know about monitoring, food safety and FAQs like; “Should I start taking Iodide?”
(don’t take iodide unless you’re real close to a nuclear disaster ’cause to much iodide is bad for you)